Spain’s 1876 Constitution & Cánovas’ Restoration System
Spain’s Restoration: Cánovas & the 1876 Constitution
Causes and Origins of the Restoration
The failure of the First Spanish Republic led the bourgeoisie towards conservative positions, particularly favouring a restoration of the monarchy to re-establish order and political stability. Cánovas del Castillo became the main architect of this system. He planned the return of the Bourbon dynasty to Spain and the throne for Alfonso XII, seeking international support (like the Vatican). The Bourbon restoration was intended to result from favourable public opinion, not a military pronouncement. Therefore, Cánovas drafted the Manifesto of Sandhurst. Signed by Prince Alfonso, it outlined his religious ideals and conciliatory intentions to the Spanish people. However, the military acted ahead of Cánovas’s wishes. The trigger for the Restoration was the pronouncement of Sagunto (December 29, 1874), where General Martínez Campos proclaimed Alfonso XII King of Spain. Cánovas was forced to accept this outcome.
Cánovas and the Theory of the Restoration Political System
Cánovas aimed to build a stable and solid political system, inspired by the English model. This system was based on the alternation in government of two major parties, the historical consolidation of the monarchy and parliament, and a moderate constitution as the legal framework. Cánovas returned to the ideas of doctrinal liberalism and defended shared sovereignty.
The Bipartisan Model: Conservatives and Liberals
Following the English model, the two major parties would alternate between power and opposition. Cánovas not only established the Conservative Party, his own, but also organized its opposition with the collaboration of Sagasta, who created the Liberal Party. Both were parties of cadres, representing the elites, without mass membership.
- The Conservative Party, led by Cánovas, was a continuation of the Moderate Party and included former moderates, members of the Catholic Union of Pidal, and Cánovas’s own Alfonsinos.
- The Liberal Party, led by Sagasta, brought together the moderate bourgeois left, including Sagasta’s own Constitutionalist Party, a section of Democrats, Republicans (possibilists), and other smaller groups.
The Carlist project, Republicans outside the ‘possibilist’ faction, the labour movement, and peripheral nationalisms were excluded from this system.
Key Features of the 1876 Constitution
After the 1876 elections, the new Constitutional Courts devised the 1876 Constitution. It was moderate in character, based essentially on the 1845 Constitution, though incorporating some rights from the 1869 Constitution, albeit curtailed. Its main advantage lay in its elasticity, achieved through vague wording that allowed governments of different political leanings to operate, ensuring the system’s stability. Its principal characteristics were:
- It provided for shared sovereignty between the King and the Cortes (Parliament).
- Recognition of general rights, though subject to the development of subsequent laws which could limit or annul them.
- Catholicism was declared the state religion, prohibiting public displays of any other religion, while recognizing individual freedom of worship.
- Strengthened power of the Crown: The King held executive power, appointed and dismissed ministers, held direct command of the army, sanctioned and promulgated laws, convened, dissolved, and suspended Parliament, and had an absolute veto over laws.
- The Cortes, which were bicameral, had their power reduced:
- The Congress was elected. The Constitution did not define the type of suffrage. Subsequently, Cánovas’s Conservative Party adopted the Electoral Act of 1878, which established census suffrage, limited to the largest taxpayers (contribuyentes).
- The Senate comprised representatives from the country’s most powerful classes: senators by inherent right (Grandees of Spain, ecclesiastical hierarchy, military leaders), life senators appointed by the King, and senators elected via census suffrage by the largest taxpayers.
Consolidation under Alfonso XII (1875-1885)
Thus, during the reign of Alfonso XII (1875-1885), the military’s political role diminished, consolidating civil power. The Carlist war was concluded, and the situation in Cuba was addressed.